10th BJS gazette

Appointment gazette for 166 judges, 40 still awaiting recruitment

The dreams finally came true for 166 lower court judges under the 10th Bangladesh Judicial Service (BJS) as their appointments were confirmed by a gazette notification on Thursday.

It is the end of a saga of wait for over one year following their selections based on exams.

However, the other side of the coin is that 40 recommended judges, who were also selected by the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission on January 29 in 2017, are yet to be recruited.

Consequently, they are now seething with pent-up frustration coupled with uncertainty due to the absence of any law stipulating timeframe for gazette issuance ensuring the appointments at the lower judiciary. Moreover, under this circumstance no institution is eager to hire them, many recommended judges told this correspondent.

The Law Ministry issued a gazette notification around 5:00pm on Thursday stating that the President has appointed 166 persons as Assistant Judges to the offices in the judicial service under Article 115 of the Constitution, the Ministry Public Relations Officer Rezaul Karim told The Daily Observer.

The newly recruited judges have to join their offices on March 1 this year to confirm their jobs.

The newly appointed judges have thanked The Daily Observer for siding with them. This newspaper on Saturday ran lead news titled ‘Bangladesh Judicial Service: Recommended judges still awaiting appointment’.

The appointments came up after the General Administration (GA) Committee of the Supreme Court on Tuesday approved postings of 166 judges and sent the files of them to the Law Ministry on Wednesday, according to a highly placed Supreme Court administration source.

The Judicial Service Commission on January 29 in 2017 made recommendations for recruiting 207 candidates as Assistant Judges following 10th BJS exams.

The process of the appointment commenced on March 03, 2016 with the issuance of a circular. The preliminary exam was held on April 20, 2016, written exam between July 30 and August 09, and viva voce between December 27, 2016 and January 22, 2017.